|    Effort girl qualifies Saint Bernard for Westminster Dog Show 'February 04, 2008' By ANDREA CARAYIANNAS For the Pocono Record ADAM RICHINS/Pocono Record Pint-sized and bubbly, Rachel Ertle, 11, of Effort, has made big strides by qualifying to show her Saint Bernard in the Junior Showmanship and Breed Ring at The Westminster Kennel Club's 132nd annual dog show. She'll showcase what's gotten her this far with Kitty, one of the five Saint Bernards her family owns. The big event will be held Feb. 11-12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Rachel's happiest moment to date? "When I qualified for Westminster," she said with a giggle. "That was my favorite part." Her excitement is evident, but that doesn't prevent a bit of nervousness from creeping up before it's showtime. "Right before I go in (the ring) I get little butterflies, but once I go in I'm fine and I want to keep going," Rachel said. "Before I go in the ring at Westminster, I'm going to have huge butterflies." Showing dogs in the Junior Showmanship is for kids ages 9 to 18, with judges focusing on how well a handler presents his or her dog. One aspect, stacking, requires the handler to pose the dog in its natural stance. How close the dog fits AKC standards — a description of the ideal specimen of each breed — is critiqued in the breed ring. Rachel's tackled both rings but says she prefers juniors. "Stacking them gets to be hard because they have such big feet," she said of the challenges she faces in the ring. "The front legs have to be even with each other. It's a lot easier when you're bigger." Despite people's attempts at convincing Rachel to show smaller dogs, she kept with it, and it has paid off.
She will go up against 127 other competitors of all age groups within Junior Showmanship, nine of whom will be showing Saint Bernards. Preliminary rounds will whittle down the number.
"Rachel has a very good chance of winning," her mother, Carrie Ertle, said. "She just has a natural gentleness about her with the dog." How connected a dog handler is with his or her dog is sometimes taken into consideration during judging in Junior Showmanship. A four-day trip to Syracuse, N.Y., for a dog show resulted in a Best Junior Award even though Kitty would not sit still for Rachel. "The judge told her, 'You got this because you didn't get upset, you could tell you and your dog were a team,'" Carrie said. Rachel agrees that her commitment to her dog inside and outside of the ring is what has helped her win. "Some of (the junior handlers) work with professional handlers," Rachel said, "and they just go into the ring and not even spend time with the dog before they go in." Making sure Kitty looks nice for showing is also important. Rachel bathes her dog and uses mousse to make Kitty's hair look fuller. Handling classes help the junior handler perfect her technique, too. But for Rachel, it's that time spent with Kitty that's the most rewarding. "The actual bond with my dogs, they're not just dogs that are trained really well," she said. "I get to spend time with my dogs, which I love and it's something different." The Group and Best In Show competitions will be televised live on USA Network from 8 to 9 p.m., continuing on CNBC from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday and live on USA Network from 8 to 11 p.m. Tuesday.
About Rachel Name: Rachel Ertle Age: 11 Town: Effort Started showing in Junior Showmanship: June 2006 Dog: Kitty, a 5-year-old Saint Bernard. Other breeds she's shown: affenpinscher, black Russian terrier, Siberian husky, French bulldog and Saint Bernards for others Wins: 12 times in the qualifying period in open class, the Best Junior three times this year, two times at all-breed shows and one time at a Saint Bernard Specialty show. Ranking: No. 2 junior in Saint Bernards, No. 12 Open Junior in the country (ages 9 to 12) and No. 214 in the country of all age groups. Background information on Junior Showmanship and what it takes to get to Westminster: Ages: Junior (9 to 12), Intermediate (12 to 15) and Senior (15 to 18). 1. Must first compete in novice class. 2. Win three times in age group (with competition present) to move up to compete in the open class. 3. All first-place winners in all six classes go back into the ring to compete for the "Best in Junior Showmanship," or simply the Best Junior. 4. To qualify for Westminster, handlers must win in the open class 10 times in the qualifying period. All qualifiers then receive an invitation to enter.
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